The Muni T-Third line is packed with passengers, including Angelika Ryan (right), as it heads to AT&T Park. Ryan takes her family to Giants games via the T-line a few times a year. It's always packed, she says. less

The Muni T-Third line is packed with passengers, including Angelika Ryan (right), as it heads to AT&T Park. Ryan takes her family to Giants games via the T-line a few times a year. It's always packed, she ... more

People crowd on to the Muni T line headed towards the ballpark at the Embarcadero station April 29, 2014 in San Francisco, Calif. Angelika Ryan, who takes her family to Giants games via the T line a few times a year says it's always this packed and it's worse on the weekends. less

People crowd on to the Muni T line headed towards the ballpark at the Embarcadero station April 29, 2014 in San Francisco, Calif. Angelika Ryan, who takes her family to Giants games via the T line a few times a ... more

The Muni T line headed towards the ballpark is packed with passengers April 29, 2014 in San Francisco, Calif. Angelika Ryan, who takes her family to Giants games via the T line a few times a year says it's always this packed and it's worse on the weekends. less

The Muni T line headed towards the ballpark is packed with passengers April 29, 2014 in San Francisco, Calif. Angelika Ryan, who takes her family to Giants games via the T line a few times a year says it's ... more

People wait at the Embarcadero station for the Muni T line headed towards the ballpark April 29, 2014 in San Francisco, Calif. Angelika Ryan, who takes her family to Giants games via the T line a few times a year says it's always this packed and it's worse on the weekends. less

People wait at the Embarcadero station for the Muni T line headed towards the ballpark April 29, 2014 in San Francisco, Calif. Angelika Ryan, who takes her family to Giants games via the T line a few times a ... more

People pour out of the Muni T line after arriving at the ballpark April 29, 2014 in San Francisco, Calif. Angelika Ryan, who takes her family to Giants games via the T line a few times a year says it's always this packed and it's worse on the weekends. less

People pour out of the Muni T line after arriving at the ballpark April 29, 2014 in San Francisco, Calif. Angelika Ryan, who takes her family to Giants games via the T line a few times a year says it's always ... more

The Muni T line headed towards the ballpark is packed with passengers April 29, 2014 in San Francisco, Calif. Angelika Ryan, who takes her family to Giants games via the T line a few times a year says it's always this packed and it's worse on the weekends. less

The Muni T line headed towards the ballpark is packed with passengers April 29, 2014 in San Francisco, Calif. Angelika Ryan, who takes her family to Giants games via the T line a few times a year says it's ... more

People pour out of the Muni T line after arriving at the ballpark April 29, 2014 in San Francisco, Calif. Angelika Ryan, who takes her family to Giants games via the T line a few times a year says it's always this packed and it's worse on the weekends. less

People pour out of the Muni T line after arriving at the ballpark April 29, 2014 in San Francisco, Calif. Angelika Ryan, who takes her family to Giants games via the T line a few times a year says it's always ... more

People get on to the Muni T line headed towards the ballpark at the Embarcadero station April 29, 2014 in San Francisco, Calif. Angelika Ryan, who takes her family to Giants games via the T line a few times a year says it's always this packed and it's worse on the weekends. less

People get on to the Muni T line headed towards the ballpark at the Embarcadero station April 29, 2014 in San Francisco, Calif. Angelika Ryan, who takes her family to Giants games via the T line a few times a ... more

The Muni T line is packed with passengers including Angelika Ryan, center, and her two sons Dmitri,10, lower center, and Gennadi, 14, right, as it heads towards the ballpark April 29, 2014 in San Francisco, Calif. Ryan, who takes her family to Giants games via the T line a few times a year says it's always this packed and it's worse on the weekends. less

The Muni T line is packed with passengers including Angelika Ryan, center, and her two sons Dmitri,10, lower center, and Gennadi, 14, right, as it heads towards the ballpark April 29, 2014 in San Francisco, ... more

People crowd on to the Muni T line headed towards the ballpark at the Embarcadero station April 29, 2014 in San Francisco, Calif. Angelika Ryan, who takes her family to Giants games via the T line a few times a year says it's always this packed and it's worse on the weekends. less

People crowd on to the Muni T line headed towards the ballpark at the Embarcadero station April 29, 2014 in San Francisco, Calif. Angelika Ryan, who takes her family to Giants games via the T line a few times a ... more

On a typical Giants game day, the platform at the Embarcadero Muni station is a sea of orange and black. The crowd thins as each ballpark-bound train fills with Giants faithful, then grows again as more fans arrive to be whisked to AT&T Park.

Not everyone on the platform, though, is on their way to a night at the ballpark.

Sprinkled among the throngs of fans are people who work downtown but live south of the stadium along the Muni T-Third light rail line, who must negotiate an overloaded system - and overcrowded train cars - just to get home.

It's a longtime problem that appears to be improving, but hasn't been fully solved.

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Margaret Cliver is one of those affected. The 50-year-old office assistant said she usually catches the T-Third at Embarcadero, but on game days sometimes has to travel backward up to four stops, farther away from her home in the Bayview neighborhood, just to find a train with enough space to board.

"Sometimes I have to go back as far as Van Ness just to get a spot on a train," she said. "On the really bad days you can't even get down to the platform."

Isaac Asiameh, 30, has similarly struggled at times to get from his downtown job at American Eagle to his Muni stop at Third Street and Williams Avenue in the Bayview. Asiameh said he's often hit with a sense of dread when he descends to the platform and realizes there's a game.

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"When I come down and I see a car full of people in jerseys, it's great for them," he said. "But I'm just trying to get home. It's definitely stressful."

Stays at work late

Asiameh said he sometimes stays at work as late as 8 p.m. to avoid the crowds. He could opt for buses on surface streets, he said, but that comes with its own set of delays and headaches.

None of this comes as news to Muni officials, who realized while talking to Bayview residents after last season that service to southeastern neighborhoods was suffering, especially on nights when 40,000 extra people flooded into the South of Market area.

The T-Third line, which serves more than 33,000 people on an average day, had a dismal on-time performance rating of 42 percent last year, well below the citywide average of 60 percent and an 85 percent goal imposed by voters in 1999.

What Muni is doing

Among those corrections: The agency is keeping extra trains on the line, rather than in a yard, so those cars can be added quickly if the need arises, Haley said.

Moreover, the trains on the T-Third line now have two cars apiece during the rush to Giants games, doubling their capacity. Last season, they had a single car because some stations west of downtown can't accommodate more than that. Now, the second car remains empty west of downtown.

In addition, Muni says it is better deploying neon-vested fare inspectors to speed up the flow of traffic around the ballpark so trains can pass through more efficiently.

"We're really trying to provide decent service, not only to Giants fans, but also to residents," Haley said. "We continue to look for ways to improve, but it's still early in the season and we still have some issues we're trying to address."

Muni's challenge in moving residents to and from the southeastern part of San Francisco will only grow.

With explosive residential and business development in the Mission Bay and Dogpatch neighborhoods - not to mention the Warriors' recent announcement of plans to build an arena in the area - that's a lot of people clamoring for a seat, or at least a sliver of space, on the train.

What's not working

Issue: Residents of San Francisco's southeastern neighborhoods say their evening commutes on Muni continue to be hampered on Giants game days, when thousands of extra people crowd onto the T-Third light rail line.

What's been done: The Municipal Transportation Agency has made several changes to service along the Third Street transit corridor, including increasing train capacity, adding shuttle trains between downtown and AT&T Park and having fare inspectors focus on improving traffic flow around the stadium.